Hamilton bakery up for $100K business prize

Hamilton – A small neighbourhood bakery in Hamilton, Ont. is in the running for a potential $100,000 award as a finalist in the sixth annual Canadian Small Business Challenge, and you could help pick the winner.

Cake & Loaf Bakery, owned by Josie Rudderham and Nicole Miller, is among five finalists in this year’s contest sponsored by TELUS and the Globe and Mail.

Both Rudderham and Miller attended George Brown College in Toronto and the Niagara Culinary Institute in Niagara-on-the-lake before launching Cake & Loaf in 2011. Focused on using local ingredients and baking from scratch, Miller is the cake creator while Rudderham is the artisan loaf maker. Since opening the business, Cake & Loaf has grown to almost two dozen employees.

The competition asks Canadian small business owners to outline the business challenges they face to a nationwide audience. The one grand prize winner, selected in September, will claim $100K to tackle its challenge, $10K to donate to a charity, along with a profile in the Globe.

The bakers have indicated their desire to step up the shop’s personalized service and would invest in a customer relationship management tool to better serve their clients. They would also use the prize money to renovate and add seating to the bakery.

The other four finalists in the competition include: a builder of luxury playhouses, a babysitting app, a compostable compost bin, and a premium craft Caesar mix.

Voting for the five finalists is open until August 30. Aside from the one $100,000 winner, the four runners-up will all receive $10,000, plus a $2,000 technology prize and a profile in the Globe.